Rashi (Sanhedrin 44b, s.v. D'ba'ya) relates the story of Shimon ben Shetach's capture of 80 witches. He instructed his students to pick up the witches because the sorcery would be powerless against the students if the witches were ungrounded. Is this to say that sorcery does not work unless the practitioner is grounded?

If so, how can we interpret the Midrash (Bamidbar Rabba, 20:20) that states that Bilaam used sorcery to fly through the air?

+1. (a.) Your first suggestion is an interesting possibility that could fit with Rashi's wording "ושוב אין מכשפות שולטות בכם." (b.) Do you have a source that Bilaam used demons for his sorcery? (c.) Regarding your last suggestion, do you mean his body stayed on the ground? I'm not sure how well that fits with the context of the Midrash. And is there a source in Chazal that this kind of kishuf exists?
– FredJul 16 '15 at 17:55

@Fred regarding B, the Arizal explains that flying is usually by being Mashbia Sheidim. And regarding C, I'm coming off, somewhat the Maharal in Gevuros about the children bring swallowed into the ground.
– HaLeiViJul 16 '15 at 20:17

Shimon Ben Shetach was the Nasi of the Sanhedrin. Like in Sanhedrin 68a (i think) where it explains that with the death of Rabbi Eliezer witchcraft was forgotten amongst the sages, it is likely that Shimon Ben Shetach (the Nasi in his time) also was familiar with witchcraft. Therefore, perhaps he knew that this particular form of witchcraft required being attached to the ground, where as Bilaam (an "expert" that a King sought out) would probably have spells in his arsenal (?) that wouldn't require being on the ground.

Also, note that Balak himself was an expert in various types of witchcraft/sorcery, but needed to enlist Bilaam due to his specific expertise in a certiain 'field'

Interesting, but isn't this essentially the same as the first two paragraphs in HaLeiVi's answer?
– FredAug 20 '15 at 6:27

@Fred I think the reference to the Sanhedrin being experts in sorcery is important to note, it supports the possibility that Shimon Ben Shetach was explaining the nature of the specific sorcery at hand.
– jj2Aug 20 '15 at 21:45

So you're noting that Sanhedrin 68a indicates the rabbis had knowledge of sorcery in general in order to make halachic decisions in various cases. There is a dispute regarding whether a non-Jew would be liable for performing magic, but Jews definitely are. The Sanhedrin might therefore be more interested in knowing about the witchcraft commonly used by Jewish violators, assuming there is such a distinction between various kinds of sorcery. So perhaps they knew the rule about grounding generally applied to Jewish witches, but they had no knowledge of Bil'am's magic. Interesting idea. +1
– FredAug 21 '15 at 0:25

@Fred i think it was their intention to learn all sorcery, in case a Jew would use it as well
– jj2Aug 21 '15 at 20:59

I think, in the Rashi on Sanhedrin 44b, the subject of the sentence "He should lift one of them from the ground" is not referring to one of the witches, but to one of the jars that he distributed in the sentence before.

[Shimon ben Shetach] assembled eighty tall young men and distributed to each of them a jar
with a cloak wrapped up inside (it was a rainy day). He also told them
to make sure that they were always eighty in number. "When you come
inside," he said, "one of you must raise his jar from the ground; from
that moment the witches will have no further hold over you; if that
does not work then we can never beat them." Shim'on ben-Shataĥ went
into the witches' coven and left the young men outside. When the
witches asked him who he was he replied that he was a wizard who had
come to test them with his wizardry. "What tricks can you do?" they
asked. "Despite the fact that it is raining today I can produce eighty
young men with dry cloaks!" "Show us!" He went outside and beckoned
the young men inside. They removed the cloaks from the jars, put them
on, and came into the coven. Thus they bettered the witches, took them
outside and strung them all up.

I don't know how lifting one of the jars from the ground would render their powers useless, but maybe that answer lies in what power the witches claimed to have.

In other places, water is used to nullify witchcraft. Perhaps it was really the rain that nullified their powers.
– zaqMay 17 '12 at 18:19

1

Thanks for the answer. However, I just reread the Rashi, and it is in fact referring to the witches, not the jars. The translation is incorrect. -1, sorry.
– FredMay 17 '12 at 20:21

Although it seems from Rashi that it was not the rain that did it, could you please produce a source that "in other places, water is used to nullify witchcraft"?
– FredMay 17 '12 at 20:24

2

@Fred: in Sanhedrin 67b, there's the case of Ze'iri buying a donkey in Alexandria - unbeknownst to him, it was turned into one by magic - and having it turn back into "a plank of wood from a bridge" when he took it to the water to drink; they tell him that everyone who buys stuff here knows to first test it with water to make sure it's the genuine article.
– AlexMay 18 '12 at 2:52

1

It turned out to be a RaDak on the the third passuk in Yechezkel, that I was thinking of. He does not say anything about magic there, but he states that water is a purifying medium and the large body of water allowed Ezekiel to have a prophecy outside of Israel. There's also this:media-1.web.britannica.com/eb-media/47/93447-004-BB23D797.jpg
– zaqMay 18 '12 at 14:10